Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich - The Bolt - The Bolshoi Ballet (2006)



Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow) - 2006
DVDRIP | 88 min | XviD 720x384 | 30 fps | AC3 448 kb/s | 1,4 GB
Language: Russian | Subtitles: English.srt - French.srt - German.srt | Genre: Ballet

Music: Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Dancers: Anastasia Yatsenko, Andrei Merkuriev, Denis Savin, Morikhiro Iwata
The Bolshoi Ballet - Choreography: Alexei Ratmansky
Orchestra of the State Theatre Bolshoi - Pavel Sorokin, conductor
Video: Vincent Bataillon

Composed in 1931 by Dmitri Shostakovich, "The Bolt", after a book by Viktor Smirnov, is being staged in september 2006, for the first time in more than 70 years. Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky conceived for the Bolshoi, a ballet of the absurd set in a Soviet factory where robots tower over human beings and ending in a blood red delirious grand parade.
For Shostakovich's music lovers, a great performance by the Bolshoi Ballet dancers in a fantastic and wonderful choreography, set in a 20th century ballet revival.

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Dmitri Shostakovich - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

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DVDRIP | 2 parts: 108 min + 58 min | MKV-x264 1500 kb/s | 720x404 | 30 fps | AC3 320 kb/s | 1,39 GB + 827 MB
Language: Russian | Subtitles: English - French - German - Spanish - Italian and Dutch optional embedded subs | Classical - Opera

Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, a lurid tale of sex, murder, and corruption, premiered in 1934 and was a success until Stalin saw it two years later, resulting in a Pravda review that viciously condemned it. It was later replaced by an expurgated version, now called Katerina Ismailova after the work's principal character. The original version has now reclaimed its place on international stages. The heroine is the daughter-in-law of Boris, a greedy, lecherous merchant, and the frustrated wife of his impotent son. Katerina poisons Boris and when her husband returns she and her lover, Sergei, kill him too, burying him in the cellar. The body is discovered during their wedding party. Haunted by guilt, Katerina confesses and the newlyweds are consigned to Siberia. When Sergei takes up with another woman, Katerina pushes her into the river and then jumps in herself.
Director Martin Kusej keeps the narrative moving inexorably to its fatal ending while indulging in broad satirical portraits of the symbols of society's power to crush the individual. Katerina is a tragic heroine trapped in a cage-like structure that serves as the merchant's house, her bedroom (bare but with a collection of shoes that would satisfy Imelda Marcos), and later the prison transport where she meets her end. Some of the satire is broad - the policemen are out of a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta. And there's abundant acreage of human flesh on display, along with a near-rape and enough consensual sex to warrant an "X" rating. But it all fits a tale where the orchestra is often in porno territory, as in the famous trombone glissandos so prominent in Katerina and Sergei's first coupling. Kusej's only serious flaw is at the end, where he has Katerina lynched by her fellow-prisoners though the text clearly has her committing suicide by drowning.
This production has the advantage of one of the world's great orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw, and its conductor, Mariss Jansons. They do everything brilliantly, whether it's a yearning string passage or a coarse depiction of on-stage brutality. As Katerina, Eva-Marie Westbrook is compelling, singing well and acting with convincing authority. Christopher Ventris' Sergei looks, acts, and sings like a burly seducer should. Boris, the dirty old man, is Vladimir Vaneev, whose ample bass and acting present a fully-rounded figure that goes beyond the part's stage villain aspects. Video director Thomas Grimm makes it all lucid on disc, the cameras rarely venturing away from what must be seen. It all adds up to a powerful performance of a powerful opera.

Opera in four acts
Cast: Eva-Maria Westbroek, Christopher Ventris, Carole Wilson, Vladimir Vaneev, Lani Poulson, Ludovit Ludha, Alexandre Kravets

Chorus od De Nederlandse Opera - Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Musical director: Mariss Jansons
Stage director: Martin Kusej
Film director: Thomas Grimm
Recorded live at Het Muziiektheater, Amsterdam in June 2006

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